Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The wines we are serving this week are a repeat of last weeks. The same international flavor with the Australian 2005 Formula Robert’s Shiraz by Small Gully Wines and the Italian 2008 Mascialrelli Rose d’Abruzzo. See last week’s blog for my comments about why I select these two wines.

The bigger question is why we did not serve them last weekend and what did we drink at the Inn. A great joy of running an Inn is to see returning guest, especially if they are a winemaker and bring samples of their craft to share. Our often-repeating guests, Lynne and Kevin from Canada, graced us this weekend with their presence. Kevin has been making wines for a number of years and always brings me his latest vintage to cellar until his next stay. Joining them was other returning guests, Priscilla and Bob from Saratoga, NY. The four had been here before at the same time and all enjoy wines.

We spent much time on the patio, aka Wine Patio, exploring Kevin’s handcrafted wines and a wide selection of others, but never made it to my selections for last week. Kris and Dave from Cellar 55 joined us to add their ‘professional’ opinions to this special tasting. The consensus was that Kevin’s 2004 Shiraz from my cellar was at it peak and was enjoyed by all. Do all wine’s taste better when shared with the proud creator of that wine? I look forward to Lynne and Kevin’s next visit, which will be the right occasion to open Kevin’s 2010 Pinot Noirs that are now maturing in my cellar.

So, last week we made a little detour from my planned wine tasting, but a lot of other great wine was still enjoyed. We now have last weeks’ selections to look forward to this week. Another win-win on the Wine Patio.